


Hair Like the Sunset

by TheGlassFloor



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bag End, Domestic Bliss, Fluff, Happy Husbands, M/M, Nori used to be a Maia, Slice of Life, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 08:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13026936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGlassFloor/pseuds/TheGlassFloor
Summary: Nori feels aesthetically inadequate, until Bilbo assures him he’s anything but.Happy husbands living in Bag End.  Takes place a few years after the quest and the major events of “That Voice”, but can be read as a standalone fic.





	Hair Like the Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a joke about Nori wishing conditioner existed in the Third Age (I know, how original, right?) but it turned into a pretty fluffy little ficlet. Hope you enjoy!

Bilbo came into the bedroom to put on one of his fancier waistcoats and found Nori sitting in front of the mirror, wincing and making frustrated grunting noises as he tried to run a comb through his long, thick tufts of red hair.

“You know, one of these days, someone really should invent something you can put in your hair to make it smoother and softer and easier to comb,” the dwarf groused.  “That day can’t come soon enough.”

Bilbo peered at him questioningly.  “Isn’t that why you braid your hair?  So you don’t have to comb it?”

“Well, yes, but I still have to comb it first.  Comb first, then braid.”

“Oh,” Bilbo said, turning his attention to the dresser, where he found the exact waistcoat he was looking for in the top drawer.  “You want something that can make it smoother and softer, you say?”

“And less like rough goat’s hair, yes.”

Bilbo nodded.  “That sounds like something the elves will have already invented, and they’re probably withholding the secret.”

Nori scoffed.  “Oh, well, forget it, then.  They can keep it.”

Bilbo smiled, shaking his head at Nori, who knew exactly what his hobbit husband was thinking in that moment.  He was wondering, yet again, why dwarves harbored such animosity for elves.  It was hard to explain, but it did give Nori something to think about.

This was one of those moments, the kind that happened every so often, when Bilbo’s perspective about something had an effect on Nori, guiding him towards a new form of self-examination and leading to a greater understanding of both himself and of life in general, and it had a way of making him love Bilbo even more than he already did.

He supposed that all dwarves resented elves because that’s just how they were brought up, and old habits die hard.  Sure, a case could be made that the elves had brought it on themselves, having done plenty over the ages to alienate the dwarves, but what did that matter to Nori personally?  He  _ always _ felt alienated, regardless of where he was or who was around him.  He even felt like a misfit around his own family.

Or rather, he  _ used to _ always feel that way, until he met Bilbo.

“I remember how silky smooth and shiny my hair was back when I was a Maia,” Nori said, continuing to navigate his way through the tangles.  “Of course, I wasn’t a physical being back then, so I could make my hair look any way I wanted whenever I took physical form.  I remember, sometimes I made it gold, or silver, or black as the murkiest depths, and once I even made it seaweed green.  But red was always my preferred color.  Red like the sunset.”

Bilbo’s face lit up.  “Yes!  Exactly.  I always thought your hair reminded me of sunset, ever since I first laid eyes on it.”

“Really?” Nori said, smiling at Bilbo’s reflection over his shoulder, then focusing on himself again.  He studied his reflection for a moment, then slowly his smile faded as his dwarvish features seemed to come into full view, the rough skin of his cheeks and the wrinkles around his eyes standing out in sudden contrast to the memory of what he looked like as a Maia, and--ridiculous as it was to think such a thing--how much  _ prettier _ he had been back then.  Not that he would have given up being a dwarf for anything, since being a dwarf meant being with Bilbo, but nevertheless, he found himself wondering for about the thousandth time why Mahal had given him such a big, pointy nose.  He sighed.

“My face was much better looking back then, as well.”

Bilbo fastened the last button on his waistcoat.  “Oh, honestly, Nori, how did you ever get so vain?  You’re worse than my cousin Angelica.”

“Vain!” Nori exclaimed, more surprised than affronted, and turned around where he sat to face Bilbo at last.  “How can I be vain if I’m ugly?”

Bilbo threw his head back, lost for a moment in a fit of laughter, then replied mirthfully: “You clearly don’t see what I see if you’re calling yourself ugly.  Certainly your looks are... _ unconventional _ , especially by hobbit standards, but that’s what caught my attention.  To think, how I spent most of my life as a bachelor, never thinking anyone fit my type, only to find out that ‘dwarf’ is my type, and one dwarf in particular…”  Bilbo came closer to where Nori was sitting, until he was standing right in front of him, then continued: “Perhaps I didn’t know it or recognize it at first, but once I got to know you better…”  Bilbo reached for his husband’s hair, gently running his fingers through it.   “...and gradually grew to love you, your outward appearance became even more radiant in my eyes.”

Nori stared up at his hobbit adoringly.

“Radiant, eh?  Like the sunset?”

Bilbo picked up a small, metal item that was laid nearby atop the miniature table and held it in front of him for Nori to see.

“Yes, like the sunset.  But also…”

It was the starfish necklace, the last remaining “found item” from Ered Luin that Nori had hung onto for all these years.  Bilbo held the chain in one hand and cradled the pewter starfish hanging from it in his other hand.

“...and more importantly, like the one-of-a-kind individual you are.”

Bilbo fastened the necklace around his husband’s neck, then sat on his lap and kissed him. His arms rested on Nori's shoulders, while Nori, receiving and reciprocating the kiss, moved his hands around Bilbo's waist. 

“Someone I cherish,” Bilbo went on, pressing their foreheads together, “someone who always makes me feel free to be myself, like the individual  _ I _ am.”

Nori was in awe.  He marveled at this amazing hobbit’s way with words.  How could he match that?

It was times like this that Nori wondered why he ever used to steal things all the time.  Nowadays he just wanted to give and give, inspired by how generous and giving Bilbo was, with words as well as deeds.

He would think of something, later.  Something special.

For the moment, all he could think of to say was, “So I’m better looking than Thorin, then?”

Bilbo rolled his eyes, with a half-exasperated, half amused smile.  “I should hope that by now I don’t have to convince you that my feelings of friendship for Thorin don’t even come close to how I feel about you."

No, indeed he didn’t.

“Better looking than Fili and Kili?”

Bilbo let out a laugh that sounded more like a snort.  “They don’t count.  Everyone is jealous of those two rascals and their devilishly good looks.”

This time they both laughed.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Oh!  That’ll be our guests,” Bilbo said, glancing over his shoulder towards the front of the smial.  They’d invited the Gamgee family over for dinner that evening.  Looking back at Nori, he said, “Everything’s ready.  How about you?”

“I’ll be ready too.  Just give me a minute to tie my hair back.”

“All right.  See you out there in a minute, then.”

He gave Nori one more quick kiss, on the very tip of his big, pointy dwarf nose, then scuttled off to answer the door and greet their dinner guests.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are welcome! Please tell me I'm halfway decent at this. :)


End file.
